Autonomous Exchanges: Human-Machine Autonomy in the Automated Media Economy

Contemporary discourses and representations of automation stress the impending “autonomy” of automated technologies. From pop culture depictions to corporate white papers, the notion of autonomous technologies tends to enliven dystopic fears about the threat to human autonomy or utopian potentials to help humans experience unrealized forms of autonomy. This project offers a more nuanced perspective, rejecting contemporary notions of automation as inevitably vanquishing or enhancing human autonomy. Through a discursive analysis of industrial “deep texts” that offer considerable insights into the material development of automated media technologies, I argue for contemporary automation to be understood as a field for the exchange of autonomy, a human-machine autonomy in which autonomy is exchanged as cultural and economic value. Human-machine autonomy is a shared condition among humans and intelligent machines shaped by economic, legal, and political paradigms with a stake in the cultural uses of automated media technologies. By understanding human-machine autonomy, this project illuminates complications of autonomy emerging from interactions with automated media technologies across a range of cultural contexts

Ubiquitous Semantic Applications

As Semantic Web technology evolves many open areas emerge, which attract more research focus. In addition to quickly expanding Linked Open Data (LOD) cloud, various embeddable metadata formats (e.g. RDFa, microdata) are becoming more common. Corporations are already using existing Web of Data to create new technologies that were not possible before. Watson by IBM an artificial intelligence computer system capable of answering questions posed in natural language can be a great example. On the other hand, ubiquitous devices that have a large number of sensors and integrated devices are becoming increasingly powerful and fully featured computing platforms in our pockets and homes. For many people smartphones and tablet computers have already replaced traditional computers as their window to the Internet and to the Web. Hence, the management and presentation of information that is useful to a user is a main requirement for today’s smartphones. And it is becoming extremely important to provide access to the emerging Web of Data from the ubiquitous devices. In this thesis we investigate how ubiquitous devices can interact with the Semantic Web. We discovered that there are five different approaches for bringing the Semantic Web to ubiquitous devices. We have outlined and discussed in detail existing challenges in implementing this approaches in section 1.2. We have described a conceptual framework for ubiquitous semantic applications in chapter 4. We distinguish three client approaches for accessing semantic data using ubiquitous devices depending on how much of the semantic data processing is performed on the device itself (thin, hybrid and fat clients). These are discussed in chapter 5 along with the solution to every related challenge. Two provider approaches (fat and hybrid) can be distinguished for exposing data from ubiquitous devices on the Semantic Web. These are discussed in chapter 6 along with the solution to every related challenge. We conclude our work with a discussion on each of the contributions of the thesis and propose future work for each of the discussed approach in chapter 7

Designing a human-centred, mobile interface to support real-time flood forecasting and warning system

This thesis was submitted for the award of Doctor of Philosophy and was awarded by Brunel University LondonThere is a demand for human-centred technology which improves the management of flood events. This thesis describes the development, design and evaluation of a mobile GIS-based hydrological model. The application provides hydrological forecasts and issues flood warnings. The thesis reports on the usability and practicality of the application. The application, a mobile-based hydrological modelling system, permits the integrated handling of real-time rainfall data from a wireless monitoring network. A spatially distributed GIS-based model integrates this incoming data, approximating real-time, to generate data on catchment hydrology and runoff. The data can be accessed from any android-based mobile computer or mobile phone. It may be further analysed online using several GIS and numerical functions. A human-centred approach to design was taken. Design guidelines for a user-centric application were developed and deployed in the first prototype. There was intensive consultation with potential users. Particular attention was paid to the ease of use of the mobile interface. Users’ needs and attitudes were relevant in the achievement of a highly functional but intuitive interface. The first prototype underwent intensive testing with users. After the initial testing of the first prototype an interactive approach was taken to development. This generated a high-fidelity prototype which was matched to the taxonomy from a user’s mental model. Users were interrogated under controlled laboratory conditions as they performed predefined tasks which were selected to generate data across all aspects of the system and to identify weaknesses. Subsequent to this work there was a major prototype re-design. User test data, identified issues and an improved mental taxonomy closer were used to further refine the application. Of particular note was new functionality which aligned with user expectations and enhanced the applications credibility. The final evaluation of the system was undertaken with diverse subjects. Overall, the subjects considered the system efficient and effective. Users said the system was easy to learn and integrate into their work. Task completion rates were satisfactory. The final interviews with users confirmed that the application was ready to proceed to the implementation phase

Libro de aplicaciones y usabilidad de la televisión digital interactiva : VIII Conferencia Iberoamericana de Aplicaciones t Usabilidad de la TV Interactiva (jAUTI 2019)

Las jAUTI2019 VIII Jornadas Iberoamericanas sobre Aplicaciones y Usabilidad de la Televisión Digital Interactiva, se realizaron durante WebMedia 2019 XXV Simpósio Brasilero de Sistemas Multimedia y Web , del 29 de Octubre al 1 de Noviembre en Río de Janeiro (Brasil). jAUTI2019 es la octava edición de un evento científico organizado anualmente por la RedAUTI Red Temática de Aplicaciones y Usabilidad de la Televisión Digital Interactiva, formada por más de 250 investigadores pertenecientes a 32 universidades de España, Portugal y once países latinoamericanos (Argentina, Brasil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Chile, Ecuador, Guatemala, Perú, Uruguay, Venezuela). Este libro reúne los trabajos aceptados en el evento el cual tiene como objetivo presentar los esfuerzos de investigación de la academia, la industria o las agencias gubernamentales en el diseño, desarrollo y usabilidad de aplicaciones para la Televisión Digital Interactiva (TVDi) y tecnologías relacionadas.A jAUTI 2019 - VIII Conferência Ibero-Americana de Aplicações e Usabilidade da Televisão Digital Interativa, foi realizada durante o WebMedia 2019 - XXV Simpósio Brasileiro de Multimídia e Sistemas Web, de 29 de outubro à 1 de novembro no Rio de Janeiro (Brasil). O jAUTI 2019 é a oitava edição de um evento científico organizado anualmente pela Rede Temática de Aplicações e Usabilidade da Televisão Digital Interativa (RedAUTI), formada por mais de 250 pesquisadores de 32 universidades de Espanha, Portugal e onze países da América Latina (Argentina, Brasil, Colômbia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Chile, Equador, Guatemala, Peru, Uruguai, Venezuela). Este livro reúne os trabalhos aceitos no evento, que visa apresentar os esforços de pesquisa da academia, da indústria ou de agências governamentais no projeto, desenvolvimento e usabilidade de aplicativos para Televisão Digital Interativa (TVDi) e tecnologias relacionadas.The jAUTI 2019 VIII Ibero-American Conference on Applications and Usability of Interactive Digital Television, were held during WebMedia 2019 XXV Brazilian Symposium on Multimedia and Web Systems, from October 29 to November 1 in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil). jAUTI 2019 is the eighth edition of a scientific event organized annually by the RedAUTI Thematic Network of Applications and Usability of Interactive Digital Television, formed by more than 250 researchers from 32 universities in Spain, Portugal and eleven Latin American countries (Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Chile, Ecuador, Guatemala, Peru, Uruguay, Venezuela). This book gathers the works accepted in the event which aims to present the research efforts of the academy, industry or government agencies in the design, development and usability of applications for Interactive Digital Television (TVDi) and related technologies.RedAUT

Libro de aplicaciones y usabilidad de la televisión digital interactiva : VIII Conferencia Iberoamericana de Aplicaciones t Usabilidad de la TV Interactiva (jAUTI 2019)

Las jAUTI2019 VIII Jornadas Iberoamericanas sobre Aplicaciones y Usabilidad de la Televisión Digital Interactiva, se realizaron durante WebMedia 2019 XXV Simpósio Brasilero de Sistemas Multimedia y Web , del 29 de Octubre al 1 de Noviembre en Río de Janeiro (Brasil). jAUTI2019 es la octava edición de un evento científico organizado anualmente por la RedAUTI Red Temática de Aplicaciones y Usabilidad de la Televisión Digital Interactiva, formada por más de 250 investigadores pertenecientes a 32 universidades de España, Portugal y once países latinoamericanos (Argentina, Brasil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Chile, Ecuador, Guatemala, Perú, Uruguay, Venezuela). Este libro reúne los trabajos aceptados en el evento el cual tiene como objetivo presentar los esfuerzos de investigación de la academia, la industria o las agencias gubernamentales en el diseño, desarrollo y usabilidad de aplicaciones para la Televisión Digital Interactiva (TVDi) y tecnologías relacionadas.A jAUTI 2019 - VIII Conferência Ibero-Americana de Aplicações e Usabilidade da Televisão Digital Interativa, foi realizada durante o WebMedia 2019 - XXV Simpósio Brasileiro de Multimídia e Sistemas Web, de 29 de outubro à 1 de novembro no Rio de Janeiro (Brasil). O jAUTI 2019 é a oitava edição de um evento científico organizado anualmente pela Rede Temática de Aplicações e Usabilidade da Televisão Digital Interativa (RedAUTI), formada por mais de 250 pesquisadores de 32 universidades de Espanha, Portugal e onze países da América Latina (Argentina, Brasil, Colômbia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Chile, Equador, Guatemala, Peru, Uruguai, Venezuela). Este livro reúne os trabalhos aceitos no evento, que visa apresentar os esforços de pesquisa da academia, da indústria ou de agências governamentais no projeto, desenvolvimento e usabilidade de aplicativos para Televisão Digital Interativa (TVDi) e tecnologias relacionadas.The jAUTI 2019 VIII Ibero-American Conference on Applications and Usability of Interactive Digital Television, were held during WebMedia 2019 XXV Brazilian Symposium on Multimedia and Web Systems, from October 29 to November 1 in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil). jAUTI 2019 is the eighth edition of a scientific event organized annually by the RedAUTI Thematic Network of Applications and Usability of Interactive Digital Television, formed by more than 250 researchers from 32 universities in Spain, Portugal and eleven Latin American countries (Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Chile, Ecuador, Guatemala, Peru, Uruguay, Venezuela). This book gathers the works accepted in the event which aims to present the research efforts of the academy, industry or government agencies in the design, development and usability of applications for Interactive Digital Television (TVDi) and related technologies.RedAUT

Libro de aplicaciones y usabilidad de la televisión digital interactiva : VIII Conferencia Iberoamericana de Aplicaciones t Usabilidad de la TV Interactiva (jAUTI 2019)

Las jAUTI2019 VIII Jornadas Iberoamericanas sobre Aplicaciones y Usabilidad de la Televisión Digital Interactiva, se realizaron durante WebMedia 2019 XXV Simpósio Brasilero de Sistemas Multimedia y Web , del 29 de Octubre al 1 de Noviembre en Río de Janeiro (Brasil). jAUTI2019 es la octava edición de un evento científico organizado anualmente por la RedAUTI Red Temática de Aplicaciones y Usabilidad de la Televisión Digital Interactiva, formada por más de 250 investigadores pertenecientes a 32 universidades de España, Portugal y once países latinoamericanos (Argentina, Brasil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Chile, Ecuador, Guatemala, Perú, Uruguay, Venezuela). Este libro reúne los trabajos aceptados en el evento el cual tiene como objetivo presentar los esfuerzos de investigación de la academia, la industria o las agencias gubernamentales en el diseño, desarrollo y usabilidad de aplicaciones para la Televisión Digital Interactiva (TVDi) y tecnologías relacionadas.A jAUTI 2019 - VIII Conferência Ibero-Americana de Aplicações e Usabilidade da Televisão Digital Interativa, foi realizada durante o WebMedia 2019 - XXV Simpósio Brasileiro de Multimídia e Sistemas Web, de 29 de outubro à 1 de novembro no Rio de Janeiro (Brasil). O jAUTI 2019 é a oitava edição de um evento científico organizado anualmente pela Rede Temática de Aplicações e Usabilidade da Televisão Digital Interativa (RedAUTI), formada por mais de 250 pesquisadores de 32 universidades de Espanha, Portugal e onze países da América Latina (Argentina, Brasil, Colômbia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Chile, Equador, Guatemala, Peru, Uruguai, Venezuela). Este livro reúne os trabalhos aceitos no evento, que visa apresentar os esforços de pesquisa da academia, da indústria ou de agências governamentais no projeto, desenvolvimento e usabilidade de aplicativos para Televisão Digital Interativa (TVDi) e tecnologias relacionadas.The jAUTI 2019 VIII Ibero-American Conference on Applications and Usability of Interactive Digital Television, were held during WebMedia 2019 XXV Brazilian Symposium on Multimedia and Web Systems, from October 29 to November 1 in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil). jAUTI 2019 is the eighth edition of a scientific event organized annually by the RedAUTI Thematic Network of Applications and Usability of Interactive Digital Television, formed by more than 250 researchers from 32 universities in Spain, Portugal and eleven Latin American countries (Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Chile, Ecuador, Guatemala, Peru, Uruguay, Venezuela). This book gathers the works accepted in the event which aims to present the research efforts of the academy, industry or government agencies in the design, development and usability of applications for Interactive Digital Television (TVDi) and related technologies.RedAUT

European Perspectives on the Information Society: Annual Monitoring Synthesis and Emerging Trend Updates

This report is one of the outcomes of the EPIS06 Project ¿ European Perspectives on the Information Society ¿ carried out by the ETEPS (European Techno-Economic Policy Support) network in cooperation with the Joint Research Centre Institute for Prospective Technological Studies (JRC IPTS) with the aim of providing strategic intelligence to policy makers by taking a prospective view on the evolution of ICT. This report combines the Annual Monitoring Synthesis (AMS) Report and five Emerging Trend Updates (ETU). It forms one of the main building blocks of the project, establishing an observatory of trends in technology and business evolutions of ICT. More particularly, the Annual Monitoring Synthesis Report (AMS Report) aims to identify new ICT-related developments likely to have a significant impact on the future of the Information Society, both in terms of growth and jobs for Europe and R&D policy prioritisation. By scanning and monitoring recent major foresight exercises and industrial technology roadmaps, as well as other future-oriented analysis and policy papers, the AMS attempts to detect early signals and possible disruptive forces so as to enable timely policy responses and anticipate potential challenges for policy makers. The AMS is structured along six main themes which emerged as a result of the analysis: - Convergence of infrastructures, - Human-computer convergence ¿ technologies for direct human computer interaction, - Pervasive or ubiquitous computing and ambient intelligence, - The future of the Internet, - Citizens¿ concerns, - Working life. A structured overview with a summary of each of the foresights, roadmaps and other sources studied is presented in the AMS report annex. In addition, five Emerging Trends Updates (ETU) present the results of focused briefs on emerging themes of interest for policy making, covering the following topics: - ETU1 on the state-of-the-art of the creative content sector, - ETU2 on ICT and the offshoring of services, - ETU3 on ICT and the role of ICTs as enablers for energy efficiency, - ETU4 on ICT tools and services in intelligent domestic and personal environments, - ETU5 on ICT and privacy in the Knowledge Society ¿ the case of search engines.JRC.J.4-Information Societ

Facilitating the development of location-based experiences

Location-based experiences depend on the availability and reliability of wireless infrastructures such as GPS, Wi-Fi, or mobile phone networks; but these technologies are not universally available everywhere and anytime. Studies of deployed experiences have shown that the characteristics of wireless infrastructures, especially their limited coverage and accuracy, have a major impact on the performance of an experience. It is in the designers’ interest to be aware of technological restrictions to their work. Current state of the art authoring tools for location-based experiences implement one common overarching model: the idea of taking a map of the physical area in which the experience is to take place and then somehow placing virtual trigger zones on top of it. This model leaves no space for technological shortcomings and assumes a perfect registration between the real and the virtual. In order to increase the designers’ awareness of the technology, this thesis suggests revealing the wireless infrastructures at authoring time through appropriate tools and workflows. This is thought to aid the designers in better understanding the characteristics of the underlying technology and thereby enable them to deal with potential problems before their work is deployed to the public. This approach was studied in practice by working with two groups of professional artists who built two commercially commissioned location-based experiences, and evaluated using qualitative research methods. The first experience is a pervasive game for mobile phones called ‘Love City’ that relies on cellular positioning. The second experience is a pervasive game for cyclists called ‘Rider Spoke’ that relies on Wi-Fi positioning. The evaluation of these two experiences revealed the importance of an integrated suite of tools that spans indoors and outdoors, and which supports the designers in better understanding the location mechanism that they decided to work with. It was found that designers can successfully create their experiences to deal with patchy, coarse grained, and varying wireless networks as long as they are made aware of the characteristics

Facilitating the development of location-based experiences

Location-based experiences depend on the availability and reliability of wireless infrastructures such as GPS, Wi-Fi, or mobile phone networks; but these technologies are not universally available everywhere and anytime. Studies of deployed experiences have shown that the characteristics of wireless infrastructures, especially their limited coverage and accuracy, have a major impact on the performance of an experience. It is in the designers’ interest to be aware of technological restrictions to their work. Current state of the art authoring tools for location-based experiences implement one common overarching model: the idea of taking a map of the physical area in which the experience is to take place and then somehow placing virtual trigger zones on top of it. This model leaves no space for technological shortcomings and assumes a perfect registration between the real and the virtual. In order to increase the designers’ awareness of the technology, this thesis suggests revealing the wireless infrastructures at authoring time through appropriate tools and workflows. This is thought to aid the designers in better understanding the characteristics of the underlying technology and thereby enable them to deal with potential problems before their work is deployed to the public. This approach was studied in practice by working with two groups of professional artists who built two commercially commissioned location-based experiences, and evaluated using qualitative research methods. The first experience is a pervasive game for mobile phones called ‘Love City’ that relies on cellular positioning. The second experience is a pervasive game for cyclists called ‘Rider Spoke’ that relies on Wi-Fi positioning. The evaluation of these two experiences revealed the importance of an integrated suite of tools that spans indoors and outdoors, and which supports the designers in better understanding the location mechanism that they decided to work with. It was found that designers can successfully create their experiences to deal with patchy, coarse grained, and varying wireless networks as long as they are made aware of the characteristics

Bridging the gap between Open and User Innovation? : exploring the value of Living Labs as a means to structure user contribution and manage distributed innovation

In nowadays society, organizations are struggling with the practical implementation of ‘distributed innovation’, or the fact that organizations need to reach outside their boundaries to tap into distributed sources of knowledge to enhance their innovation processes. Within this PhD, we will look at a specific approach, promoted and supported by the European Commission, that tries to facilitate and manage distributed innovation processes through a Public-Private-People partnership with a central role for the end-user: Living Labs. Following Almirall & Wareham (2011) and Leminen et al. (2014), we define Living Labs as an organized approach (as opposed to an ad hoc approach) to innovation consisting of real-life experimentation and active user involvement by means of different methods involving multiple stakeholders, as is implied in the Public-Private-People character of Living Labs. However, there are two main problems associated with these Living Labs. First problem, in terms of Living Lab practice and activity, is that there seem to be too many initiatives, without enough noticeable results or impact. This is linked to the second problem, dealing with Living Labs theory. To this date, there have been a lot of Living Lab publications, but there is no consistency in terms of connection to larger research paradigms and frameworks, and there is a lack of papers with a significant academic impact as well as research clearly illustrating their value. Therefore, from a theoretical perspective, we have investigated both the Open and User Innovation paradigms and demonstrated that Living Labs are an embodiment of both, although there are only few references to these literature streams in the current Living Labs literature. From a practice perspective, we have illustrated that Living Labs are rooted within various European predecessors such as cooperative design, social experiments and ‘digital cities’, but that out of the 345 affiliated members to the European Network of Living Labs, at least 40% is currently inactive. In order to further evolve Living Labs as a concept and to allow a better conceptualization, we developed a three layered model, consisting of a macro level (the Living Lab constellation), the meso level (consisting of a Living Lab innovation project) and the micro level (consisting of the different methodological research steps). Moreover, within a multiple case study analysis of 4 Living Lab constellation, 21 Living Lab innovation projects and 107 methodological research steps, we have been able to demonstrate that the concepts gathered from the Open Innovation literature could be used to analyze the macro level, whereas the concepts from the User Innovation literature could be used on the micro level. Through co-creation, both levels merge on the meso level, resulting in useful contributions to the innovation in development. Therefore, we concluded that Living Labs are able to govern innovation networks and to structure user participation in concrete innovation projects